Vagabond Treasure Ireland Tour Day 1 and 2

When I began thinking about this trip, visiting the Scottish Highlands was my goal, but if we're traveling all the way to Europe, we like to spend at least 3 weeks there. I browsed the web, searching for addition places to visit, until I came upon Vagabond's website. In addition to their tours packed with hikes and other ambitious activities, they offer more laid-back Driftwood Tours which promise a relaxed pace and abundant free time - exactly the type of tour I prefer. Somehow I got the impression that this meant we would check into a hotel about 3 and have the rest of the day to ourselves, but that isn't how it worked out. We usually boarded the bus around 9 AM and toured until 5 or 6 PM except for a lunchtime break.

Our tour began with 13 people - 11 Americans and 2 Canadians - ranging in age from 18 to 78. Fortunately, everyone got along, and controversial political topics were mostly avoided. One man tested positive for Covid midway through the trip so he and his wife had to drop out and quarantine for 5 days, but the rest of us stayed healthy. Our guide was a wonderful woman named Angela. We traveled in a reasonably comfortable Mercedes bus for 7 days. Every night was a new hotel except for the 2 nights we spent in Dingle.

The first day was a long driving day - pretty much straight across the island from Dublin on the East Coast to the Abbeyglen Castle Hotel on the West. As we drove, Angela expounded on a wide range of topics and entertained us with stories about her life. Occasionally she played songs from her playlists of mournful Irish music.

We drove through the morning stopping briefly at a sort of truckstop for snacks and stopped for lunch in the town of Cong where "The Quiet Man" was filmed. Free time was declared so we wandered through some shops and the remains of an Augustinian Abbey in addition to dining in a small cafe. The Abbey was originally built in the 7th Century, destroyed by fire in the 12th, rebuilt at the beginning of the 13th and eventually destroyed again. I was impressed by the contrast of the cold, grey stone and the vivid green of the Irish grass.

After driving for an hour or so, we stopped at Killary Fjord where Angela took the first of quite a few group pictures.

Then it was back on the bus and a quick stop to view Kylemore Abbey. The Abbey was beautiful, but there was no time to tour the inside which was disappointing because Angela had told us it had a beautiful walled garden.

The day held one final adventure. We drove past our hotel and onto a ridiculously narrow road which was barely wide enough for one car but was traveled by cars going in both directions. As we ascended the ocean cliffs, a a huge truck suddenly approached. What was it doing on this road? The truck was cliffside, we were oceanside, and there were no guardrails. Both vehicles stopped, and we slowly advanced. I think we were all incredulous. "There will be no mishaps today," Angela announced with confidence just before our side mirror bumped against the side of the truck. Neither driver seemed to find this to be worthy of attention. We carried on to the lookout point. Quite honestly, the view was not all that exceptional, but the roadside plants provided a vibrant burst of color. We finally arrived at our hotel about 5:30.

We were looking forward to a much needed adult beverage and a relaxing evening, but this was not to be. Instead the owner of the hotel was hosting a drink all the prosecco you want for free during a half hour reception followed by a buy-it- yourself group dinner. We attended mainly because there didn't seem to be any alternative places for food and beverages close by, but we did actually enjoy ourselves. Finally, around 9 PM, we collapsed in our beds, exhausted by the first day of our "relaxed" tour.

We awoke to an unexpectedly warm and sunny morning. I had planned to take some pictures outside the much touted Castle Hotel before we left, but when we ventured outside a gazillion annoying midges descended on us. We quickly boarded the bus and drove to our first stop of the day, Aughnanure Castle, where this peaceful scene greeted us.

The remains of over 200 tower houses can be found in this area, and Aughnanure Castle is one of the most intact. When it was built by the fearsome O'Flaherty family in the 16th Century, it was surrounded by a forest of yew trees. In fact, The name Aughnanure derives from the Irish Achadh na n-Iubhar or “Field of the Yews”. Only two yew trees remain today- one planted in the mid 19th century and another one planted in 2000 to commemorate the new millenium. This is the 23 year old yew tree.

An enthusiastic young woman gave an interesting presentation about the castle and life in the area, but her talk contained way more information than we really wanted to hear. There were steep curving stone staircases inside which led to the upper floors - one room to a floor - all empty.

We drove on and on, stopping for lunch and free time in a bustling town and later for a quick comfort stop in a seaside village. By now the weather had turned dark and stormy.

We finally arrived in Burren National Park where we fought against the wind as we trudged across the uneven rock-strewn ground to view the Poulnabrone dolmen. The dolmen, built by Neolithic farmers, is a marker for a burial site. Originally, it would have been covered with soil, but it was excavated in the 1980's, and the remains of 33 adults and children were found. It was an impressive site.

I thought that this was surely the end of our touring day, but we drove past our hotel for the night and on to the Cliffs of Moher. The sight of the many steps leading up to the viewing platforms was daunting after the long day, but we pressed on. Here the wind was truly amazing. At times we thought we might be blown onto the rocks.

When we did finally check into the hotel, the weather was cold and wet so we ate dinner at the hotel restaurant instead of venturing into the town.

One of the things I was discovering was that it's hard to keep track of where you are and what you will be doing during the day when you are on tour. Since the guides have some flexibility in planning activites, the places we actually stopped were not always the same as the places on the tour itinerary. One woman was valiantly trying to record place names in her notebook, but since none of us were familiar with the spelling of these places, this was not an easy task. It wasn't until the end of the Scottish tour that I realized that I should have just taken a quick picture on my phone, when I didn't know where we were and the location would have been recorded along with the date and time the picture was taken.